Bye Bye Berlusconi!

"Bye Bye Berlusconi" is the title of a movie made about the Italian Prime Minister. This weekend will show if the Italian people are finally bored enough with their media-dictator Silvio Berlusconi or if they will just give him their vote again. Why should they do so? everybody else in Europe asks. What is so fascinating about the richest man of Italy who controlls the public opinion with his 3 private TV channels in which his person, politics and party are celebrated from sunrise to sunset, while in reality behind his arrogance and ignorance he is a corrupt criminal who turned Italy to the worst economical positions in Europe during the time of his government?

In 1994, Berlusconi has been elected for the first time, but his old government lasted for only 7 months. In 2001 he became the chief of the government again and kept this position until now (that was the longest period, an Italian government has lasted after the Second World War). He was critizied from all sides - Italian intellectuals, Leftists, the European public - for a number of corruption affairs, for misusing the power of the law, for sending the Italian army side by side with Bush's troop to Iraq.

Now, Romano Prodi who had won the elections in 1996 tries again to win with a coalition from centre and left (christian democrats, social democrats, communists). Berlusconi´s party went into a coalition with the neo-fascists around Alessandra Mussolini, the grand-daughter of the "duce" (Italy´s Hitler from 1922 to 1945). Berlusconi himself relativated the crimes of the fascist-era while Alessandra Mussolini openly insulted the people of Libya when she proposed that without her colonial grand-father, the Libyans would still be uncivilised and "ride on camels through the desert" (Italy occupied Libya between 1911 and 1943).












The best of the Italian artists, musicians and actors take position in the election-campaign and joke about Berlusconi in TV-shows (on those channels that still do not belong to him, of course) and films: for example singer Adriano Celentano in his TV-show "Rockpolitic", in which he and the brilliant comedian Roberto Benigni gained the attention of 60% of the TV-population for their Berlusconi-satire, or film-maker Nanni Moretti who made a movie about Berlusconi as "the caiman" ("Il caimano").


















Latest prognoses saw Berlusconi´s coalition still with the support of 48% of the Italian voters. One of the reasons for Berlusconi´s success is the sheer power of his media-cartell that influences the public opinion (especially of the people who do not read newspapers) not only through his own private-channels, but also through the governmental channel RAI. The American publicist Alexander Stille called Berlusconi as maybe the first modern European politician who has raised his own voters. Secondly, there is the fear of communism that still exists among a big part of the population and as a third point, there are the announced tax-gifts - some sweets for the people (while the left wants to raise taxes, because the state is hopelessly in debts).
Will Prodi make it against Berlusconi?
Italians, please send the caiman back to the swamps!